{RIKU POV}
{REALM: THE DICASTERY}
{DEPTH 3}
Riku took the lead with his knife at the ready as they stepped into what was supposedly the third Depth of the Deep Blue. With Shizu's alliance with them already properly hashed out, the two of them proceeded to make to slowly make their way down Themis's Realm. Despite what Nyx thought, they actually found the exit for the first Depth without needing help, all by simply finding the edge of the entire thing and following the walls. Which was kind of anticlimactic depending on who was asking if he was being honest.
"How are we not finding any of Big Brother's lions after everything we've been through?" Nyx casually whined as she and Shizu followed behind him. "We're already in the third Depth of his Realm. We didn't even see anything on the second."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Shizu awkwardly chuckled. "It means we don't have to waste our strength fighting. We don't even have to worry if we're going to get injured or not."
The former assassin silently nodded at Shizu's words. That was exactly what he wanted. He wasn't built to be a head-on fighter. He was an assassin, and even if he was currently playing bodyguard for both his patron goddess and their assuredly squishy ally, he had little experience fighting head on against strong opponents. Of course he was going to prioritize stealth and avoidance of enemies instead of killing every single thing they came across.
"This is boring though," the goddess among them grumbled. "And I want more lion sashimi, to be honest." /You're also not getting stronger like this, Riku./
Riku simply scoffed at such a notion. He heard his goddess words well enough, and while he knew that his power relied on him killing a lot of enemies to keep amassing power, doing so without preparation was liable to get him killed. He would prefer to kill lions that were alone instead of those prowling around in packs like what they've already encountered before.
/I don't want to die before the game even starts properly,/ he thought back to his goddess. /And as for my wish, have you thought about it?/
"W-Wha..."
"What is it?" Shizu immediately asked the sputtering goddess. "Are you trying to tell us something?"
"N-Nothing of importance," Nyx audibly blushed, making Riku smirk in front of them. "I just remembered something."
He inwardly chuckled at his goddess's reaction to his words. After all, the wish he was talking about was him taking her as his wife once he won the game. Of course, he thought about telling her about it as a joke earlier, but by the time they went through the second Depth, he couldn't help but feel like such a wish had actual merit. He was risking his life for this goddess, and all he would wish was to be returned to his restaurant? It was a fee that his professional sense would never accept. No, it had to be something equal to the amount of risk he was taking, and what better reward would there be than to have what was the equivalent of the Biblical god being his bride once he won her this game?
/I'm... There's no precedent for it,/ Nyx meekly thought to him, her tone losing its teasing streak from before he sprung his wish on her. /I'm sure the others would protest, but if I inherit the God Father's power and position, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway.../
/So there's reason not to say no then,/ Riku blandly insisted. /Didn't you tell me that I can wish for anything and it'll be granted?/
/But that wasn't taking this kind of scenario into account,/ the goddess mumbled. /I'm... I'm barely a few eons old... I don't think I'm ready to get married.../
Riku blinked at what she was saying even as his ears told him to keep his eyes peeled. There were multiple packs of Lion Guards nearby, and he had already given Shizu a silent signal to get ready for battle.
/You are,/ he mentally scoffed to her before using his quiet voice in reality. "Focus... We're surrounded..."
Nyx immediately tensed up behind him, and Riku forgot his current conversation with her in favor of focusing on his surroundings. They were currently in the middle of an intersection with very few buildings and marble pillars to act as a cover. Already, he counted at least four lions circling them. Looking at their collective golden glow, it almost felt like looking right into a bright LED light bulb as they slowly moved closer, their eyes trained solely on their location as another pack of three lions joined them from the right side.
"There's more here, Riku," Shizu whispered to him, her fear evident in her tone.
"How many?"
"T-Three..." she meekly replied. "I... I can snipe at them now, but I don't think I can hit them if they start running."
"Then just spam your cards at them," he clinically told her. "They never run out, right?"
"No, they don't," she whispered. "But-"
"Then throw them at them like your life depended on it," he scoffed back. "It's true anyway."
"Meanwhile, I get to just stand here and be useless," Nyx smugly shrugged as she sat on thin air and began floating up. "It's the rules, unfortunately. I do wish you two good luck though."
Riku simply shrugged back as he wielded his knife. Already, it glowed with the power of Chaos as he held it in a reverse grip, his sights trained on the nearest lion that was getting ready to lunge at them.
"Oh, should I start giving you buffs now, Riku?"
He raised a brow at the sudden offer. Right, he almost forgot he had to coordinate this with Shizu. They spoke enough about it while they were traversing the second Depth earlier, and they both came to the agreement that fighting like two individuals instead of as a team would be bad for their continued survival.
"Not yet," he told her. "They're limited in duration, yes? We have to make the most of them then."